- Latin name
- Narcissus poeticus
- Family
- Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
- Origin
- France (Aubrac plateau, Lozère)
- Parts used
- flowers
- Raw materials
- concrete, absolute
- Extraction
- solvent extraction
- Olfactory group
- floral (green-animalic)
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- floral bases with hay-like and green molecules
The poet's narcissus is a white narcissus with a small yellow cup edged in red. For perfumery it is gathered in the mountain meadows of France, where it grows wild, to obtain a rare absolute.
How it smells: surprisingly complex: floral honey, hay, greenery, a faintly animalic and leathery shade. Narcissus absolute sounds dense, heady and a little mysterious — not nearly as innocent as the flower looks.
Narcissus absolute is one of the rarest floral materials: the flowers are gathered for only a few weeks a year, and a vast number of them yields very little absolute. So it is used by the drop, like a jewel.
What it pairs with: with jasmine and hyacinth — spring white-floral compositions, with greens and galbanum — a “green garden”, with leather — floral leather, with iris — powdery elegance, with honey — warm hay-like fragrances.
Good to know: the flower's name is linked to the Greek myth of the youth Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection, and to the word “narke”, numbness, for its heady scent.
